Our daughter has been in Spain now for almost two months, and that is just hard to believe that her time there is almost halfway over! She has already finished her midterm examinations! Where does the time fly off too... a rhetorical question I know, because no one I know has the answer!

Twenty-three years ago today, in the very early morning hours of St. Patrick's Day, our precious daughter was brought into this world, and the world has been a better place because of her {smiles}.  We are missing her very much as she celebrates her birthday halfway around the world, and so I thought it would be a good time to share with you some of the memories she has made while studying in Spain. 

This is inside the university campus where she is studying, in the main courtyard.

Inside the la Catedral de Granada, one of the most magnificent cathedrals in Spain.

A closer look at the magnificence of this building!

The outdoor courtyard area of the Palace Alhambra.

Inside Alhambra looking out into the courtyard. Such incredible architecture!

She traveled to the city of Toledo, Spain, and this is a gorgeous view overlooking the city.

Another view of Toledo, Spain.

And one more... the sunset views were just stunning to see!

Crossing one of the many bridges in the city of Toledo.

La Catedral de Toledo is one of the largest cathedrals in Spain.

A view of the magnificence inside La Catedral de Toledo.

Gold statutes inside the cathedral.

El Palacio Real (Royal Palace of Madrid) where the royal family hosts official events.  The palace was incredibly opulent, she tells us, but inside they were not allowed to take pictures of it!

A picture of the Royal family of Spain.

She toured the capital city of Spain, Madrid, on a bicycle!  With the group they rode bicycles through much of the city for several hours! What a great way to explore!

A marketplace in Madrid

This beautiful peacock graced the grounds of the park they visited in Madrid.

She has gone on several hikes around Granada, and this is a picture of a hike she took that had views overlooking the Sierra Nevada mountains.

She tells us that cats are everywhere in Spain, and they are quite beautiful souls!

A monument in a park braced on either side by two beautiful orange trees.

On another hike, they climbed through a canyon, and it was quite a challenging hike.  In places, they had to crawl!

Crossing this wooden swinging bridge through the canyon.

What an interesting hike this must have been, much hard work went into creating this trail through the canyons.

A view of the beautiful Sierra Nevada mountain range in the warm afternoon light.

A sunset view of the city of Granada

Here she visits an Arabic teahouse called El Banuelo.

She ordered te pakistani (Pakistani tea) which she really enjoyed and a Baklava, all very delicious.

She has also gone to visit the Rock of Gibraltar. Here is a picture of the entrance at the base of the Rock

She says she nearly got blown away by the high winds at the Europa cliff point with the view of the Trinity lighthouse.  Beautiful view!

What a gorgeous color the water is!

She got to see the monkeys who live on the Rock of Gibraltar, and it is a quite well-known fact that these cute little monkeys are trained pickpockets, so they were warned beforehand to not touch the monkeys or turn their back to them, and to hold their belongings close!

Back in Granada, she happened upon a spontaneous flamenco dancer, dancing in the street entertaining the crowd who gathered to watch.

This is La Plaza de Espana in the town of Sevilla. Again, here you can see a crowd gathered to watch a flamenco dancer.

A sunset view of the Plaza de Espana, Sevilla.

Touring Cordoba, Spain. Such an incredibly beautiful stone bridge!

Walking through the streets of Cordoba, she captured these beautiful pots lining the walls of the homes.

Being a gardener myself, I just have to ask, how do these plants get watered?  I don't know the answer, but I do wonder! Aren't they beautiful!

So I will stop there for now... she has recently traveled to Portugal and also the country of Morocco! I will have to do another "Adventure in Spain" post and share those beautiful pictures with you :)

But to bring us all back to reality... this is what it looks like in my world now that we have finished traveling in the sunshine in Spain....

Frosty mornings with warm sunshine and plentiful snow.

Our morning walks take us past this beautiful view every morning.

When one looks at this picture, how can you not love winter? And I do, I love winter dearly... but I am ready for Spring... it is time  {smiles}

Just this morning I captured this wild rose bush decked out in its organdy white gown of hoar frost... but it won't be long now before buds burst forth and wild roses bloom once again.  We are all ready and waiting :)

I took the dogs on a snowshoe through the woods this afternoon.  The days of snowshoeing and cross-country skiing around our home no doubt are drawing to a close for this season, and I want to enjoy it while I can.

Enjoying our time in the woods, the dogs are always on high alert, which makes them great companions. However, their "high alert" stance almost always involves a deer, lol!

Our weather forecast for this upcoming week says that we are to reach highs of 60s on Wednesday which is also the first day of Spring... I do hope for once they aren't wrong! We are all looking forward to the warm sunshine forecast for this coming week, and already we have seen the temps rising during the day with the warm sunshine and have seen a lot of the snow melt, but it has a long way to go yet.  Spring seems to be a bit finicky in her arrival, so one just never quite knows for sure. 
But for now, we are just very grateful for the sunshine in the forecast! 

I hope you enjoyed your "armchair travels" to a land where springtime has been in full swing for some time now, and we look forward to the day coming soon when we shall enjoy it here too :)

How is Spring looking in your world? 

But sometimes you just need color in your world!  On a trip to the local Ace Hardware to buy a snow shovel, I spotted these gorgeous primrose pots, and of course, I couldn't resist, four of them came home with me.  They are perched on my windowsill, a daily reminder that spring will come!

The snowbanks continued to rise this winter until as I walked, I can barely see over some of them.

I have begun a ladies prayer meeting at my home weekly on Tuesdays at 11 a.m.  I made these little cards to give the ladies who come to send out to someone who they prayed for today.  It is wonderful to come into the throne room of the Lord and know that our petitions are heard! Where 2 or 3 are gathered together .... :)

I was trying to get a cute picture of Mister Simba as he snuggled on the couch cushion,  but he was rather perturbed by my efforts... ha!

Happy mail!  My dear friend Mitzy who blogs at BlueRockHorses.com sent me these gorgeous kitchen cloths. She had sent me one for Christmas, and I loved it so much that I sent her money for the yarn, and asked her to make me some more.  She kindly obliged! If you need the most incredible dishcloth that is not too large, and the perfect size for your hand, Mitzy's talents will bless you.  I've bought a lot of dishcloths over the years, and finally, I've found her design to work perfectly for me.  She calls them her "Kitchen Workhorses" and indeed, they are! Thank you Mitzy!

Had some fun making some cute tags!

Winter wonderland!

Walking on ice! But the views are magnificent!

I love how the light fell in thin slices of blue through this photo... It was such a glorious afternoon!

Such a sweet furry face that bekons me every day as I walk by!

I adore wintertime, I really do... when you have views like this, it makes the extra work that snow/ice bring more bearable :)

Driving by the ice-covered cliffs is always magnificent, but no more so than this day when I asked my husband to stop so I could get out and capture the gorgeous color of the sky too.  Such a brilliant blue!

These frozen icicles lit the day up with the light as it sparked around and through them.

A closer glimpse of the beauty of the frozen ice.

When the sun came out, and warmed the air, the chickens decided a venture out was in order.

They mingled warily together as the band of turkeys who live in our pine trees stared them down.

Oh the fluffiness of it all :)

If Miss Gracie's looks could speak... I'm sure she would say "hurry up springtime! I'm tired of all this white stuff"  LOL!

A closer look at one of the turkeys that hangs around our home.

These poor turkey gals are rather sad looking and in my opinion, not the prettiest of animals our Lord created!  {smiles}

In the cold weather, they huddle together with their feathers fluffed to create a cocoon of warmth.  They are survivors!

And when the snow falls so prettily, one just can't help but see the beauty in how it graces every living thing!

Our daughter's car buried underneath the chilly white blanket while she enjoys warm beach weather in Spain! I sent this picture to her as a reality check for her... I'm not sure that made her miss home more though, lol! She is having a grand time in Spain, and in my next post I plan to share some pictures with you of her travels and experience in Spain.  :)

I have so enjoyed these beautiful primroses that add such delightful color to my otherwise white world!

Even Mister Simba has enjoyed the primroses... and the sunshine!

This lovely package arrived from a dear friend of mine, Cheryl and really blessed my heart and my day!  I have thoroughly enjoyed using my spice mat, and drinking the chocolate mint tea... have you ever had chocolate tea? Oh my... it is soo good! Thank you Cheryl for blessing my day :)

Enjoying a delightful cup of Chocolate Mint Tea!

While the snow is still on our horizon, I can see it melting a little bit each day. I have a cage around a tree in our backyard, and each day I can see the snow level dropping around that cage... that gives me hope that spring is on its way! And even as the clocks move forward this weekend, and my primroses are blooming prettily in my windowsill, it will probably be another few weeks before we can see the ground again, and begin to look for blooms to pop their heads up out of the earth.

One thing for sure, with the days growing longer, the sun's rays have longer to warm the earth, and soon, quite soon spring will be here.  Until then I'll enjoy the quiet days inside enjoying hot tea and working on the never-ending indoor chores, and soon enough, the busy season of gardening and yard work will commence, and there is no doubt, I am looking forward to it.  {smiles}